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Enrollments in Languages Other Than En Glish in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016: Final All information embargoed until Tuesday, 4 June, 9:00 a.m. EDT. Enrollments in Languages Other Than En glish in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016: Final Report Dennis Looney and Natalia Lusin Web publication, June 2019 © 2019 Modern Language Association of America All material published by the Modern Language Association in any medium is protected by copyright. Users may link to the MLA Web page freely and may quote from MLA publications as allowed by the doctrine of fair use. Written permission is required for any other reproduction of material from any MLA publication. Send requests for permission to reprint material to the MLA permissions manager by mail (85 Broad Street, suite 500, New York, NY 10004-2434), e-mail ([email protected]), or fax (646 458-0030). Burns—Documents—Web File: text_enroll09.indd Job #: 502-98 11/10/10–DC All information embargoed until Tuesday, 4 June, 9:00 a.m. EDT. the modern language association of america ii Enrollments in Languages Other Than En glish in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016: Final Report Executive Summary TOTAL enrollments (undergraduate and graduate) in languages other than English dropped by 9.2% be- tween fall 2013 and fall 2016, as reported in the Modern Language Association’s twenty-fifth language en- rollment census. Despite the overall drop, there were gains in nearly half of all language programs (45.5%) that mitigate somewhat the downward trend. There is no denying that in some institutions the numbers are negative, but where the numbers are positive, they are impressive indeed. More than half the programs in the following languages were stable or actually increased in overall enrollments: Arabic (51.5%), American Sign Language (53.4%), Biblical Hebrew (53.8%), Japanese (57.4%), and Korean (75.0%). And the follow- ing languages had close to half their programs reporting stable or increased enrollments: Portuguese (40.5%), French (41.5%), Modern Hebrew (41.6%), German (47.1%), Latin (47.1%), Chinese (47.5%), Russian (48.6%), and Ancient Greek (48.9%). One-third of the programs in Italian (33.2%) and Spanish (36.3%) reported stability or growth. In advanced undergraduate enrollments (courses in the fifth through eighth semesters), of the fifteen most commonly taught languages, all but Spanish showed stability or growth in more than half their programs. And in graduate enrollments, all fifteen languages showed stability or growth in more than half their programs. These numbers imply that the downturn has affected introductory enrollments (the first through fourth semesters) most sharply, and indeed the 15.9% drop in enrollments at two-year institutions, a special area of concern given those institutions’ role in higher education access, corroborates that interpretation. The total number of language programs offered in fall 2016 was down by 651, or 5.3%, since 2013, whereas between 2009 and 2013 the number of offered programs declined by one. This figure includes commonly taught languages such as French (which fell by 129 programs), Spanish (118), German (86), and Italian (56), as well as less commonly taught languages such as Hindi (which declined by 8), Yiddish (5), and Thai (3). Twenty-three Indigenous American languages that reported enrollments in 2009 or 2013 were not taught in fall 2016. Staffing for less commonly taught languages tends to depend on non-tenure-track hiring, which makes those languages especially vulnerable to budget changes. Despite challenges at the local and national levels, many language programs remain strong. This report highlights examples of programs whose robust enrollments demonstrate the value of innovative curricular thinking as well as dedicated faculty members who have the support of their administration. Clearly, invest- ments are needed in language education, and this report includes case studies of successful programs on which change can be modeled. © 2019 by the Modern Language Association of America Burns—Documents—Web File: text_enroll09.indd Job #: 502-98 11/10/10–DC All information embargoed until Tuesday, 4 June, 9:00 a.m. EDT. the modern language association of america 1 Enrollments in Languages Other Than En glish in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016: Final Report THIS report is the second of two that analyzes the findings of the Modern Lan- guage Association’s 2016 language enrollment censuses. The preliminary report pre- sented our findings in broad terms; this final report presents a more fine-grained analysis of the results. Since 1958, the Modern Language Association (MLA) has gathered and analyzed data on undergraduate and graduate course enrollments in languages other than En glish in United States colleges and universities. The previous census, the twenty- third, examined language enrollments in fall 2013. In 2016, the MLA conducted the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth censuses simultaneously, covering summer 2016 and fall 2016. This is the first time since 1971 that the MLA has gathered data on summer enrollments. From 1958 through 2009, the MLA conducted its censuses with the support of the United States Department of Education. In 2013, the census was partially funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Security Education Program, and in 2016 it was partially funded by the National Endow- ment for the Humanities.1 Since the 1970s, the overall proportion of language course enrollments to total students has held relatively steady at a ratio of just above or below 8 language course enrollments per 100 students (fig. 5). Between fall 2013 and fall 2016, enrollments in languages other than En glish fell 9.2% in colleges and universities in the United States; of the fifteen most commonly taught languages, only Japanese and Korean showed gains in enrollments (tables 1a and 1b). Over 45% of language programs saw stable or increasing enrollments (table 12a). Two-year institutions suffered a larger percentage drop in enrollments than four- year institutions. Between fall 2013 and fall 2016, enrollments declined by 7.3% at four-year institutions while declining by 15.9% at two-year institutions (table 2f). The total number of language programs reporting enrollments fell by 651 programs, or 5.3%, between 2013 and 2016. In contrast, the number of programs held relatively steady between 2009 and 2013, when the number declined by only one (table 10). Methodology Beginning in October 2016, we contacted 2,669 postsecondary institutions in the United States, using the MLA database of institutions that offer languages other than En glish. We supplemented the MLA list of institutions with data from the National Center for Education Statistics and from the 2016 Higher Education Directory to make sure that all accredited, nonprofit institutions were accounted for. Thirty insti- tutions proved ineligible (this group includes institutions that merged, closed, or lost Burns—Documents—Web File: text_enroll09.indd Job #: 502-98 11/10/10–DC All information embargoed until Tuesday, 4 June, 9:00 a.m. EDT. the modern language association of america 2 accreditation, as well as branch campuses whose enrollment numbers were reported Enrollments in with those of the main campus), reducing the total number to 2,639. Over an eleven- Languages Other Than month period, 2,547 AA-, BA-, MA-, and PhD-granting colleges and universities, or English in United States 96.5% of all eligible institutions, reported; 92 declined to participate. In addition, 20 Institutions of Higher institutions with summer enrollments provided information only about fall enroll- Education, Summer ments, making the summer 2016 response rate 95.8%. These response rates continue 2016 and Fall 2016: the high level of response that has been a goal of MLA language enrollment studies, Final Report allowing us to reaffirm that these numbers constitute censuses rather than surveys.2 Approximately one-third of the responses came from two-year colleges and two- thirds from four-year institutions. Of the 2,547 institutions that responded, 219 had no enrollments in languages other than En glish in fall 2016. These constituted 8.6% of responding two-year institutions and 8.6% of responding four-year institutions. In 2013 the percentages were somewhat lower: 7.5% of responding two-year colleges and 6.7% of responding four-year institutions reported no language enrollments. The percentages were considerably higher in summer 2016 than in fall 2016: 30.4% of responding two-year colleges and 42.7% of responding four-year institutions re- ported no language courses. The data from all MLA enrollment censuses, from 1958 to 2016, are searchable online through the Language Enrollment Database (apps.mla.org/flsurvey_search), where the full data set is also available as a downloadable spreadsheet. Included in the database are lists of institutions that did not respond and institutions that re- ported no language enrollments in 2009, 2013, and 2016. In conjunction with the update of the Language Enrollment Database, we have added the fall 2016 enrollment figures to the MLA Language Map apps.mla.org/( map_main), which uses data from the United States Census’s American Commu- nity Survey to display the locations and concentrations of speakers of twenty-nine languages other than En glish in the United States.3 Users of the Language Map will be able to locate language programs and detailed information about fall 2016 course enrollments in the regions where these languages are spoken in the United States. Increasing, Decreasing, and Stable Enrollments The data collected in the 2016 language enrollment census show trends that are polarized. Aggregated fall 2016 course enrollments in languages other than English were 1,417,838. In fall 2013, enrollments were 1,561,131. On the one hand, there is an indisputable drop of 9.2% across total enrollments between fall 2013 and fall 2016.
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